Pubdate: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 Source: Marin Independent Journal (CA) Copyright: 2008 Marin Independent Journal Contact: http://www.marinij.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/673 Author: Gary Klien, Medianews Group, Inc Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) DRUG CASE DROPPED; DEPUTY'S ACTION BLAMED Prosecutors were prompted to dismiss charges against a drug informant in Novato after she accused a county narcotics agent of making sexual advances toward her. The episode could also prompt legal challenges to other cases involving the detective, Tyrone Williams, who was reassigned from the Marin County Major Crimes Task Force after the allegations surfaced. Sheriff's officials said they were barred from discussing personnel actions or internal investigations, even if the sexual misconduct allegations against Williams were found to be meritless. But authorities did conclude that Williams violated a key department policy - he made contact with the informant without another detective present. Because of this breach, prosecutors would not have been able to refute the suspect's allegations if the case went before a jury. "We did not feel we would be able to sustain our burden of proof," said District Attorney Ed Berberian. Williams, who joined the sheriff's office in 2005 after working for the California Highway Patrol, declined to respond to the allegations. "I don't want to comment on that," he said. The accuser in the case is Sarah Gean Rawlins, a 19-year-old former Ignacio woman charged with selling drugs to an undercover task force detective several times in March and April 2007, according to court documents. Police said Rawlins sold less than an ounce of marijuana to the undercover agent three times, and on one occasion conspired with another suspect to sell the agent nearly an ounce of crystal methamphetamine. Rawlins agreed to become an informant for the task force, the county narcotics unit overseen by the sheriff's office, when police said her cooperation might help her case get dismissed, according to a motion filed by her defense attorney, Gary Kauffman. Rawlins worked under the direction of Williams, Kauffman said. Under sheriff's department policy, a detective must have another investigator present whenever meeting with an informant. This safeguard is intended to prevent the informant from making unchallenged police misconduct claims that could jeopardize the credibility of the investigation - and torpedo the case. But according to Kauffman's motion, Williams not only met Rawlins repeatedly without a police colleague present but he also made sexual advances toward her, brought wine to her Ignacio Lane apartment and engaged in other improprieties. "Agent Williams sexually pressured, cajoled, and engaged in illegal and unethical behavior constituting outrageous governmental misconduct during the time Ms. Rawlins was his informant," Kauffman wrote. The sheriff's department opened an internal investigation into Rawlins' allegations, according to Kauffman's motion, which he filed Dec. 13. The motion demands the release of all documents and evidence pertaining to the inquiry, conducted by sheriff's Sgt. Ken Frey, who does not work on the task force. The next week - before a judge could rule on the motion - the district attorney's office dropped the pending drug case against Rawlins, rendering the motion moot. Rawlins has left Ignacio and is a fashion and design student at City College of San Francisco, according to Kauffman. He said Rawlins has filed no civil litigation against the sheriff's department and did not wish to be interviewed. "She just wants to put this nightmare behind her," he said. Efforts to reach Rawlins were unsuccessful. Williams was moved off the task force - a plum assignment, especially for a relatively new hire - and assigned to the county jail. Sheriff Robert Doyle said personnel confidentiality laws precluded him from commenting on internal investigations, or even confirming their existence. Doyle said Williams was reassigned because "he's a deputy sheriff and deputy sheriffs do a variety of work in the organization." Two of Williams' task force supervisors, Lt. Rick Russell and Sgt. Rudy Yamanoha, have also been assigned to new duties since the episode. Doyle said the reassignments of both supervisors, who had been on the task force for several years, were in the works before the Rawlins allegations surfaced. The Rawlins case is not the first time the Marin County Major Crimes Task Force, created in 1977 as an interagency narcotics unit, has been involved in a sex-related dispute. In 1990, a Sausalito police officer working on the task force filed a lawsuit accusing two other task force detectives of sexually harassing her. The case was settled when the task force gave her $300,000 in money seized from drug dealers. The use of confiscated drug money - which was supposed to be used for fighting crime - was later called improper after probes by the county grand jury, the state attorney general's office and the U.S. attorney's office. The Rawlins case could prompt legal challenges from other defendants investigated by Williams. In a series of rulings, beginning with a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brady vs. Maryland, the courts have said that prosecutors cannot withhold from defendants any potentially favorable information that could be "material to guilt or punishment." This so-called "Brady material" includes personnel information that might cast doubt on a testifying police officer's conduct or credibility. Therefore, in cases where Williams was involved, defendants could be entitled to information about the Rawlins case, including the internal investigation. "Whatever 'Brady' obligation, if there is any, we will comply with that," said Berberian, the district attorney. - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath